The Story of Drake Anderson
by German53
Summary: Drake Anderson was a normal kid living in Chicago. He spent his days in school bored, minus shop class, and his free time boxing. That was before he found his dad was a god and he was needed to get back something that was stolen. What's a kid to do? R: M
1. A NOT SO AWESOME BIRTHDAY

_**CHAPTER ONE: A NOT SO AWESOME BIRTHDAY**_

My name is Drake Anderson. I live in Chicago with my mom, Jackie Anderson, she works at the Chicago Tribune as a restaurant columnist, but she also makes big metal sculptures as a hobby. I never knew my father, I'm pretty sure he died when I was really young, but my mom tells me that I look just like him, which to me means that my dad was a really big guy.

I am only twelve but I look like I'm fourteen or fifteen because I'm so big. I'm a huge fan of music and I take my IPod with me everywhere especially the Gym. My mom decided to put me into a boxing program about 3 years ago since Chicago can be a dangerous city, and I'm really very good at it, my instructor said he's never seen anyone with so much raw talent for the sport in his life. Being good at boxing is also good outside of the ring as it helps keep the bullies away from me, they see the muscles I got from weight lifting and decide to try their luck elsewhere.

This most recent year has not been a good year for me; I'm failing most of my classes, because I have dyslexia and ADHD, aside from metal shop. Most of my teachers don't like me and I probably won't be asked back to the school next year. Then things got really weird, it was my twelfth birthday, my mom threw me a great party, and I had a few of my friends over. When I opened my presents they were mostly really cool, then my mom got out a small box and gave it to me.

"This was something your father gave to me for you, he said to give it to you when I thought you were old enough." I opened the box and inside there were two matching rings, they were wide silver bands with designs carved into them, they seemed to be Ancient Greek letters, the one had a dragon head on it and the other a lion head.

"Mom these rings are so cool, they must have cost a fortune."

"Actually your father made them himself for you." Mom said. I couldn't believe it, my father made these rings for me, incredible. I tried them on, the dragon ring on my left hand and the lion ring on the right, for some reason they just felt right that way. After the party we went to the arcade at the Chicago Pier.

Here is where the weird part of the day started, I was playing a shooting game with my friend Zach, he's a crippled kid that goes to school with me when suddenly he froze and started to sniff around like he smelled something bad.

"Dude what's the problem, did someone fart or something?" Then he turned around and his eyes started to bug out and he said.

"Drake run, run now", I looked at him like he had lost his mind "why?" then I turned and saw a woman walking toward us, she suddenly seemed to shift in front of me, she pulled a sword out of her coat and she suddenly had a dark green scaly face. Zach pulled me out of the way just as the snake lady slashed through the game we were playing.

Zach Yelled "Ms. Anderson we need to leave RIGHT NOW." My mom turned and saw Zach and me running and reacted instantly, she got in front of us and cleared a path, we left and headed for my moms car.

I turned to my mom and my friend "what the heck is going on? What was that thing the snake lady and where did that sword come from?" my mom ignored me and drove really fast out of the mall parking lot.

Zach was looking out the back window like he expected something to coma after us and said. "No time to explain everything Drake, but ill give you the short version, that was a monster, they are real and it wants to kill you."

"Are you insane? Monsters aren't real." But I didn't feel as certain of that fact as I had a few minutes ago. "How can monsters be real?"

"You know all those Greek Myths about gods and monsters and stuff like that?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Well they are all real, the Gods, the monsters all of it, and you're what's called a half-blood." I felt like I was in an episode of the twilight zone. I looked at my mom and she didn't argue with any of the things Zach had been saying, then she looked at me.

"Honey your friend Zach is telling you the truth, your...your father is one of the Gods of Olympus." When my mom dropped that on me I just couldn't take it anymore, I needed to get out, I yelled at my mom to stop the car and let me out. My mom stopped and did let me out. I got out and started to heave on the side of the road, when I was finished I looked around and saw that we were on the highway heading east. I turned just as my mom was handing me a bottle of water, I rinsed my mouth out and took a few drinks.

"Where on earth are we going?" Zach looked at me and said simply "camp." "Camp? I thought we were running from a monster?"

"You'll be safe at Camp Half-blood. But it's in Long Island so we're going to have to be very careful and drive fast." I don't know why but I believed Zach when he said that id be safe at this camp. Then Zach did something that almost made me faint, he took off his shoes and I saw that he didn't have feet, instead he had cloven hooves at the end of his legs. I looked from Zach's face to his hooves and he shrugged and said.

"Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I'm a Satyr, were the one's who go out into the world to look for half-bloods." I grabbed one of his shoes and looked inside, it was stuffed with Styrofoam and had a cut out for his hoof.

"This." I started "This is completely insane." But I just couldn't make myself believe it anymore, id gotten too many shocks in the last few hours.

"Honey you need to get back into the car so that we can get going, everything will be explained to you when we get to camp. We should be able to make it by tomorrow night." Between the two of them my mom and Zach got me back into the car and we drove off. After a little while sitting with Zach, and trying not to stare at his fake feet I started to calm down and think about the fact that my entire world had been turned completely upside down, I finally fell asleep.

I didn't wake up until the next evening just in time for my mom to point to the side of the road. "Were here." I looked out the window and saw we were on a country road looking at a strawberry farm.

"And where is here?" I asked.

"Camp." Was all Zach said.

Mom looked at me. "I'm sorry honey I can't come with you, the borders to camp only allow half-bloods through."

"So what happens to you?"

"I have to go back home, don't worry honey you will be fine, the camp will take great care of you. Ill be in touch." Zach and I walked up the road towards a hill where there was a huge pine tree at the top. I saw something shiny in the branches.

"Is that gold in the branches?"

Zach looked at it and just said "oh yeah that's the Golden Fleece, one of the campers retrieved it a few years ago, it protects the borders of camp." I was going to ask what protected the fleece when I noticed something large curled around the tree.

"What is…..th-thaaaa?" I stammered to a stop when the large thing raised its head and I saw that it was a huge lizard.

"Oh yeah that's Peleus, the dragon that guards the fleece. Come on Chiron will explain everything." We walked past the dragon it sniffed at us then decided to go back to its nap with smoke curling out of its nostrils. Then we headed to what Zach called the Big House, which was a large farmhouse with four stories and an attic. We were met before we got there by a man in a motorized wheelchair.

"Ah hello there Zach I see you were successful in your mission." He said.

"Yes Chiron this is Drake Anderson," then Zach turned to me. "Drake this is Chiron our activities director. Chiron I don't think that our regular orientation film is going to work. His mother didn't tell him anything at all."

Chiron looked over at me "I see well then I guess we'll just go ahead and get the biggest shock out of the way." And with that Chiron stood up and I almost fell over, from the waist up Chiron looked like just another guy with his tweed jacket and beard, but from the waist down he was a pure white stallion.

"You're a…a centaur?"

"Very good Mr. Anderson. I see you're up on your Greek Mythology. Yes I am a Centaur, I trust that your young friend showed you his true nature as well?" I nodded to Chiron, "well then why don't we have you meet Mr. D and then I will give you the full tour of camp." Then Chiron turned around and headed towards the Big House, before we got there though Chiron sat back down in his wheel chair and wheeled inside.

_End Chapter One._


	2. THE WORLD'S STRANGEST SUMMER CAMP

_**CHAPTER TWO: THE WORLD'S STRANGEST SUMMER CAMP**_

Inside the Big House was a small man wearing a purple and orange Tiger pattern Hawaiian shirt with dark curly hair drinking Diet Coke while looking at a wine magazine. He glanced up from his magazine and gave me an unimpressed look and went back to his magazine. "So found another one have we? Welcome to camp, hope you don't die too soon, blah, blah, blah, all that jazz." I was about to open my mouth and probably say something really stupid cause that little guy made me mad when Chiron put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a warning look, and I decided not to say anything (which probably saved my life) and said.

"Yes Mr. D we've found another, I just brought him in for the usual meet and greet." And with that Chiron swept me back out of the house and toward the strangest summer camp I'd ever seen, Chiron took me by the sword fighting arena and the archery range and the forge, which really intrigued me. Then we headed towards the cabins, which were the twenty-four strangest buildings id ever seen in my entire life.

"So what's up with those buildings?"

"Ah those are the cabins for the campers, there is one cabin for each of the Olympian gods, both the major and minor gods. Until your parentage is confirmed you will be staying in cabin eleven. And here are the counselors for cabin Eleven Travis and Connor Stoll." Chiron pointed at two guys who were probably eighteen or nineteen, they came over toward us and said hello. After they left Chiron looked at me and said, "they're good boys but remember that they are sons of Hermes, the god of thieves." After we finished the tour Chiron go me settled into cabin eleven and said that when supper is served I should just go with my cabin mates.

I looked at Travis and Connor and asked "I saw the sword arena and the archery range, you guys don't happen to have a boxing ring around here do you?"

The Stoll brother looked at each other and shook their heads "sorry no" they said in unison. Too bad I thought, then a conch horn blew and the Stoll's got everyone lined up for supper. We headed to the dining area where all the campers showed up for supper. When we all got settled down Chiron raised his goblet and said "to the gods" which was echoed by all of the campers.

And then out of the woods, and I mean literally out of the woods, came a bunch of very pretty girls carrying platters of fruits, vegetables and some awesome looking barbecue. After it was all served I started to dig in when Travis Stoll stopped me and said.

"Not yet first we offer a portion to the gods, they like the smell." I gave him a confused look but I saw everyone getting up and heading to the big fire pit and dropping part of their food into the fire, the ripest vegetables or the juiciest piece of brisket. I followed suit with the other Hermes campers and when I got up to the fire I heard Connor drop his cluster of grapes into the fire and say "for Hermes."

I didn't know which god to offer mine to so I said "for the gods" and thought 'hey dad I hope u hear this'. Then everyone started to cheer and point in my direction, I looked around for what everyone was looking at, then I looked up and saw a reddish black hologram over my head in the shape of a hammer, I looked around for an explanation when Chiron said.

"Welcome Drake Anderson, Son of Hephaestus. You may now go sit with your brothers of the Hephaestus cabin." With that I left the Hermes table and headed over to another table with five other kids that actually looked a bit like me, they were all big and had the same kind of features that I do. They all welcomed me like I was their long lost brother, which I guess I was.

Then we ate supper. The next morning after breakfast we headed to the forge where I got my first real lesson in metalworking. Id always been good at metal shop, it was the only class at my last school that I was passing, but I quickly found out that I didn't know nearly as much as I thought. They showed me how to really forge an authentic bronze sword, which was where Jake Mason, the head of the cabin happened to look at my hands,

"Hey where did you get those rings?" I didn't hear him because I was still wearing my headphones with MC Chris playing in my ears. He came over and tapped my shoulder and asked me again.

"I got them for my birthday, my mom said that my dad made them…." I stopped when I remembered that my dad was the Olympian god of blacksmiths. I looked at the matching rings on my hands; then I looked back at my cabin mates and said, "what does this mean?" The Hephaestus cabin members looked over the rings, when Jake said.

"I think you should go talk to Chiron, I can tell they are magic but I'm not sure what they do. Chiron has looked at more magic items than anyone besides dad so he should be able to figure it out." I left the forge and put my headphones back on and headed over to the Big House, I was walking by the sword arena where I saw one of the campers training with his sword while a giant furry mound was lying nearby.

The camper looked over at me and waived, I walked over to him past the furry mound when it suddenly shuddered and almost rolled over on me. "What the?" The mound suddenly got up and I realized that it was a dog the size of a tank. I yelled and threw a hard left hook right into the side of the dog's head. The dog turned back at me and bared its teeth and growled at me, I was very certain I was about to die when the other camper yelled.

"Mrs. O'Leary stop!" Surprisingly the dog stopped immediately and turned to the Camper, it sat down and started wagging her tail affectionately. "Hey sorry about her, she just didn't expect a punch in the mouth like that. My name's Nico Di Angelo, and this is Mrs. O'Leary, she's a hell hound but don't worry she's tame." Mrs. O'Leary looked at me and growled deep in her throat "now don't be like that" Nico chided her. "Here girl fetch" Nico said as he threw a big bronze shield, Mrs. O'Leary bounded after it barking happily and caught the shield on the other side of the sword pit and began chewing on it.

I stared at the whole exchange with my jaw hanging open when someone behind me said. "Hey you might want to close your mouth before you catch flies new kid." I turned to see a pretty Asian girl about my age smiling at Nico and me. I quickly closed my mouth and Nico said.

"Hey Asoka what's up? Did you see the hook this guy gave Mrs. O'Leary?"

"Yeah I did and I saw that he nearly got eaten because of it, you should be more careful around her she likes most people but I don't think you want to make her angry."

"Yeah sorry about that she just kind of surprised me, never seen a dog that big before and it kinda freaked me out." I said feeling pretty ashamed. I'd attacked the camp pet and now I was being chewed out by two of the other campers. "I guess id better apologize to her, umm how do I apologize to a giant hell hound?"

Nico smiled "hang on a second." He walked over behind the sword pit and came back with a dog biscuit the size of a trash can lid and handed it to me. "Here try this. It should help her get over that left hook." I took the dog treat and walked over to Mrs. O'Leary where she was apparently done with the shield, she looked up at me and growled a little but stopped when she noticed the dog biscuit in my hands and started to wag her tail.

"I'm sorry I hit you Mrs. O'Leary." I tossed her the biscuit; Mrs. O'Leary's head snapped forward and the dog treat disappeared. Mrs. O'Leary licked her lips and then jumped on me and licked me a few times to show that there were no hard feelings for hitting her, then she bounded off into the forest and crashed out of ear shot. I got up wiping hellhound droll off of myself while Nico and Asoka stood off to the side laughing.

"Id say that Mrs. O'Leary forgives you" Nico said while handing me a towel to dry off with.

"So do you two happen to know where Chiron is?" I asked as I was drying off the drool.

Asoka answered, "Yeah he's over on the archery range, I just came from there, why?" I told them about my rings and that the other Hephaestus kids were sure they were magic, Asoka looked them over and said.

"I agree they are definitely magic, it's probably some kind of weapon like my bow and quiver. They were a gift from my dad too." Asoka held up two key chains, one in the shape of the sun, the other in the shape of a chariot. Asoka then clicked a hidden switch on each and they changed into golden bow and matching quiver slung across Asoka's back.

"Oh that is so cool." I said as I looked at my rings "so these rings could be some kind of awesome weapon?" I headed over to the Archery range with Nico and Asoka to find Chiron, he was giving an archery lesson to a group of campers, and he saw us walking up and called a stop to the lesson.

He turned to us "hello Nico, Asoka, and Drake how are you settling in with your new cabin mates?"

"Fine sir, we were working the forge when they saw my rings they thought they were magic of some kind." I showed Chiron the rings on my hands; Chiron looked over the rings, and told me. "Yes these are definitely magic, and you activate the magic by tapping them together." I did as Chiron instructed and tapped my fists together as if I was in a boxing match and suddenly the rings on my fingers expanded into large silver and bronze gauntlets, the one on the left with a dragon etched onto the back and right one with a lion etched on it. Even though they looked extremely heavy they felt perfect on my hands, almost like they were part of me.

"Wow these are so cool." I took up my boxing stance and took a few practice swings like I was sparring and they gauntlets felt absolutely perfect on my hands. "Oh Man I feel like I could box all day with these on. I really need to get a punching bag, so I can try these bad boys out." Chiron looked very pleased, he looked at the gauntlets and said.

"I believe we can come up with something to that effect. Well this is something you might find interesting. You see the Lion inscribed on the right gauntlet? This is not just any lion it's the Nemean Lion, and on the left gauntlet that is a Great Drakon, in very fine detail. Now as it is nearly time for dinner you should head back to your cabins and get ready, Capture the flag is in three days, train well and you shall be ready."

_End Chapter Two_


	3. I BREAK SOME THINGS

_**CHPATER THREE: I BREAK SOME THINGS**_

That night at dinner Chiron announced that capture the flag would be in three days, all of the campers cheered. After dinner that night the heads of the cabins went around trying to get alliances made for the capture the flag match coming up. I didn't pay to much attention because I was too busy listening to my IPod and messing with my new magic gauntlets, I kept making them grow into the gauntlets and shrinking back into the silver rings.

I spent the next three days training at the sword arena with my gauntlets, between me and my brothers we fashioned a great heavy bag out of celestial Bronze and steel, Nico helped me out a lot with fighting against swords, His sword was a wicked looking with a blade made of solid black Stygian Iron, a gift from his father Hades. Asoka, who was a daughter of Apollo, also helped me by showing me good ways to avoid ranged attacks.

It turned out that the Hades, Poseidon, and Athena cabins had teamed up with the Hephaestus, Hermes and Apollo cabins for capture the flag, the Ares cabin had made alliances with the remaining cabins, so unfortunately we were outnumbered, but we had two of the most powerful half-bloods in the world on our side so we were pretty sure we would do well. Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon, was in charge of the tactics, he set up some of the Hermes campers to defend the flag that was set up on Zeus's Fist, along with a few of the Athena and about half of my Hephaestus cabin.

Percy put me on border patrol along with Nico, Asoka and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin; Percy had the rest of the Apollo, Athena, and Hermes cabins in scouting parties. Percy was roaming through the trees looking for anywhere he could help. We seemed pretty well set up for anything the other team threw at us. Then suddenly arrows started raining around Nico's position and mine. My brothers came to our aid with huge shields that they formed into a shield wall to help block the arrows, while Asoka returned fire and I activated my gauntlets.

I suddenly realized that the thick bronze plates on the back of my hands extended all the way down my forearms to my elbows making them into small shields. Suddenly a group of three Ares campers broke out form the far side of the forest along with about twenty other half-bloods from some of the minor god cabins cheering and headed toward Zeus's Fist and out flag. Nico Yelled "charge them, don't let them get to our flag." He suited his words and charged the nearest Ares cabin member, he stabbed at him, the Ares camper blocked his stab and slashed at Nico's feet, but Nico jumped back over the slash.

I charged forward with my Gauntlets into the large group of campers. About six of them surrounded me, their swords and spears gave them reach on me but id always fought kids that were taller and had more reach so this was not new. I blocked the first spear thrust with my right gauntlet and gave a straight left jab at the boy, he tried to turn the shaft of his spear to block but I was too quick. I struck him in the chest with my punch and surprisingly his breastplate crumpled under my fist and he slid backwards about five feet and fell over, I was shocked by this since the punch should not have done any real damage, the rest of the group seemed equally shocked but they got over it quickly.

I sensed one of them to my right start to attack and I spun and blocked his sword slash with my gauntlet, the rest started to attack me simultaneously and I was put on the defensive for a few short seconds until Asoka gave me the opening I needed with a well placed arrow that she shot at the lead Ares camper and shaved off the top of his red horse hair plume. I blocked another sword slash with my left gauntlet and did a backhand with my right gauntlet; one of the campers tried to block with his sword but when my gauntlet connected there was a surge of energy and the sword shattered. My hand didn't even slow down, it hit the camper in the chest and he was flung about twenty feet back and in the air to land on the other side of the creek.

I kept spinning and hit the next camper with a strong left hook that smashed into his shield and crumpled it like tin foil, the boy flew head over heels toward the tree line and when he landed he did not get up. The three remaining campers that were around me started to look wary and kept their distance from me and my extremely effective gauntlets. I had a hard time getting in good shots but they didn't press me hard enough to get good hits on me either. Suddenly Nico and Jake were with me and it went from three on one to three on three.

The kid looking at me didn't want to press me very hard but without having to worry about getting attacked from behind I charged him and did a quick combo of right jab then left uppercut to the body, the first hit broke his spear when he tried to when he tried to block and the second cracked his breastplate in half and knocked him about fifteen feet back and in the air where he landed in the upper branches of a tree.

Nico had finished with his enemy and looked over at my handiwork "that was very impressive." He looked around at the three others id taken down. "Those gauntlets of yours are extremely powerful, be careful when you're fighting at camp, at least against other campers. If you go into the woods to fight the monsters stocked there you don't have to hold back."

Just as Nico finished Percy came running out of the far woods with the blood red Ares flag in hand and being chased by what looked like the entire other team, which was being led by the rest of the Ares cabin. He was close to the boundary line but he was quickly being overtaken, on instinct I yelled "Percy jump."

Percy responded immediately and jumped straight up as I did a double fisted ground pound and a shockwave erupted forward towards the other team, the shockwave knocked them all over and most of the other team landed on top of each other when they stumbled and in a few cases were flung into the air. My shockwave was all the distraction Percy needed to make it across the creek and into our territory.

As soon as he made it across the creek the flag changed from Ares symbol, a black boars head in front of a spear on a blood red field, to the symbol of Poseidon, which is a sea green trident on a field of blue. Nico and the rest of our team cheered and charged Percy and lifted him up, Chiron appeared at the edge of the woods "Congratulations everyone on a well played game. Team Poseidon wins Golden Laurels. You should all be proud of yourselves." With that the game was over.

Jake and the rest of the Hephaestus cabin lifted me up on their shoulders and cheered me just as hard as they cheered Percy. Percy looked at me and gave me thumbs up, which I returned. That night at dinner the golden laurels were given out to all of the members of the Poseidon team. The next few days were uneventful, at least by camp standards, I did archery and sword practice (well boxing practice for me) with Nico and Asoka, scaled the lava wall; I spent a great deal of time in the workshop with my brothers making swords and shields. I was tasked with fixing the armor and weapons of the campers that id broken in capture the flag.

_End Chapter Three_


	4. DAD SENDS ME A DREAM MESSAGE

_**CHAPTER FOUR: DAD SENDS ME A DREAM MESSAGE**_

Nico and Asoka came around to spend time with me, Percy also came to visit me and introduce his half-brother Tyson, who is a Cyclops. He was better at metal working than anyone id ever seen, including the senior members of my own cabin. He was extremely impressed with my gauntlets "metal gloves good, know I can't make anything that good, not sure if even Briares can."

"Well according to my mom, my father made them for me."

Tyson's eye got wide at that "your papa is Hephaestus right?" I nodded. "Makes sense. Only smith god make things better than Briares." He clapped happily and went outside to play with Mrs. O'Leary, who was chewing on a life sized pink squeaky yak.

Percy looked at me "hey Drake thanks for that shockwave thing you did, if it hadn't been for that I wouldn't have made it across the creek. Oh and I should warn you Clarisse isn't very happy with you."

"Who is Clarisse and why is she upset with me?" I asked.

"Clarisse is the head of the Ares cabin, she was the one chasing me at the capture the flag match, she fell over when you did that shockwave and then half her team fell on top of her, so she's sworn revenge on you, she tends to hold grudges so if I was you I'd watch my back. She'll try to make your life miserable."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll make sure to keep my distance from her." That night I had my first nightmare, apparently being a half-blood means that dreams aren't always dreams; sometimes they are important messages.

I was in what looked like a huge garage, although it was the strangest garage ever imagined, there was half a bronze mechanical horse sitting on a car lift, next to what looked like a 65 Ford Mustang. Also there was a forge just like the one at camp in the back of the garage. An extremely large man with a metal brace on his leg was storming around the garage, knocking over tool racks and cursing in ancient Greek. He looked over at the mechanical horse and pointed one of his fingers at it and it started to smoke and melt all over the garage floor, then he turned to the mustang and smashed the hood with his fists. "Blast it all, who took it?" He yelled, I instantly knew I was looking at my father Hephaestus, God of fire and forging, he then looked over in my direction and his eyes lit up. "Drake you're the perfect one to do what I need."

I woke up in a cold sweat looking around the cabin. I looked out the window and guessed that it was about two in the morning. I put my headphones back on and played my favorite MC Chris song at the max volume. I needed to think and music always helped me think. I also pulled a can of black cherry faygo out from under my bed, the sodas aren't allowed in camp but the Stoll brothers brought me a case of it as a gift for helping win capture the flag and my brothers didn't rat me out since I shared them.

I wasn't sure if what id seen was real, it seemed real enough. I finished my soda and decided to go ask Chiron about it. I got dressed and headed over to the Big House. I knocked on the door, which was answered by a sleepy looking Satyr in a green shirt that said "Got Hooves." "What do you want?" He asked irritably.

"I need to talk to Chiron."

"Do you know what time it is?"

I started to get irritated "yes I know it's late but this is important so can you go get him?"

"Yeah yeah ill go get him." He waved me inside the Big House and then disappeared through one of the other rooms and emerged a few min later with Chiron; he was in his wheelchair form.

"What is going on Drake?" I explained my strange dream to Chiron, he looked very thoughtful. "Hmm, well I do not doubt that you saw your father in the dream, Lord Hephaestus is very distinct. It seems that something of his was stolen from him and he'd like you to retrieve it. It seems that you will be receiving a quest, but not until morning. Go back to bed and we will discuss it further after breakfast tomorrow."

I tried to protest with him but Chiron gave me one of those looks that didn't allow for argument, so I went back to cabin nine and tried to go back to sleep. I didn't get to much sleep that night and in the morning I was up with the dawn. I needed to talk to someone else about the dream that I had, I decided that Nico was a good choice since he was already one of my closest friends at camp; and everyone seemed to really respect him since apparently he'd helped save the world last summer in a huge battle when the Titans had attempted to destroy western civilization.

So I went over to cabin thirteen and knocked on the big black door. Nico answered, looking sleepy and a little Irritated. "Hi Drake" his voice also sounded irritated.

"Hey there Nico, I need someone to talk to." I held up the six-pack of soda I brought with me as kind of a bribe and Nico started to look less angry.

"Sure why not" I followed Nico into the big cabin which looked like a medieval castle made out of solid black obsidian, with silver skulls on the walls, and torches that burned magical green fire. Nico popped the top off of one of the sodas id brought, took a long drink and asked, "so Drake why are you waking me? The sun is barely up."

"Sorry about that Nico but I needed someone to talk to," I said.

"So what's up?" I explained my dream to Nico and what Chiron had said about it and the quest. Nico whistled loudly "well your either going to be really popular or a lot of people are going to be really jealous of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well most of the kids here have been wanting quests for a long time and it's your first year at camp, some of the other kids may not be very happy hearing that you're already getting a quest, but then again they may be happy for you, it just depends." Nico said as he finished the soda Id handed him. I hadn't even thought that other campers might be jealous of me getting a quest. "If I was you I'd listen to Chiron, he's been doing this kind of thing for over three thousand years, he knows what he's talking about. Now go back to your cabin and try to relax."

I left the Hades cabin but decided not to go back to my cabin; instead I headed over to the sword arena where I decided to do an early morning work out. Went to the improvised heavy bag I'd made out of large heavy pieces of celestial bronze and steel that wouldn't crumple under my gauntlets. Id been working on the bag for about an hour when I heard loud barking, I turned to see Mrs. O'Leary came bounding towards me, I changed my gauntlets back into rings and petted her for a few minutes then went over to the practice dummies and pulled off one of the shields and threw it for her to fetch. Mrs. O'Leary woofed happily and charged after the shield.

I started to turn back to the bag when I noticed the sun, I decided to head to the showers and go back so I'd be on time for breakfast. I got back just as my brothers were heading to breakfast, Jake looked at me but didn't say anything and we all headed out. After breakfast I went up to Chiron and asked him about my quest, "yes you shall have you quest as soon as our Oracle arrives, she should be here shortly." Just then I heard Mrs. O'Leary barking happily, I looked over at what had her so excited, she was bounding over toward a pretty red headed girl of about seventeen who was walking toward the Big House.

Chiron trotted over to her and said. "Hello Rachel. How was your school year?"

Rachel made a face and said. "Horrible, I hate that school, but I made a deal and I'll just have to suffer through." Then she looked over at me and smiled "New camper?"

"Yeah I just got here about a week ago."

Chiron looked over at us and smiled "Rachel may I introduce Drake Anderson, son of Hephaestus. Drake this is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our Oracle. Now I hate to do this to you my dear, since you just arrived but our young hero requires a quest." Rachel looked over at me and I smiled at her.

"Oh ok no problem, let me just put my stuff in my room and ill get ready." With that she disappeared into the Big House, Chiron looked over at me and said.

"Well let me get into my chair and we will head inside." With that Chiron trotted over to his wheelchair and sat down into it, after that we walked into the Big House where Mr. D was sitting at the ping pong table eating grapes and drinking diet coke and reading his wine magazine. We went past him and Chiron looked at me "you should go up into the attic, Rachel is probably waiting for you up there already, she will give you your quest. Assuming you return to us sane you will begin your quest."

Feeling a bit put off by the 'should you return sane' part of what Chiron said, I headed up to the attic. It was packed with trophies from previous quests done and battle by other half bloods in camp. Rachel was sitting on a stool, when she saw me here eyes got really wide and started to glow green, then suddenly green mist started pouring out of her mouth and it changed into the form of a huge snake. It hissed and flowed towards me, and then I heard a voice in my head.

_I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophesies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach Seeker and ask._ I was pretty freaked out by this, but I asked.

"How do I help my father?" The Green mist snake curled around itself, and then it spoke again.

_A creature of sea and air you must find in a land of good weather._

_Knowledge sought of a stolen treasure_

_Destruction of a sacred place, map hidden within a case_

_On a land surrounded in mist, you must find_

_Or treasure will be lost for all time._

Rachel came shook her head as she was coming out of the trance. "What did I say?" She asked.

"What? You mean you don't know?"

"No I never know what the prophecy says, because the spirit takes over completely."

I was stunned, I had no idea what that prophecy was supposed to mean. I looked at Rachel. "I guess we should head back down and talk to Chiron." Rachel nodded and we both headed down stairs. Chiron rolled over to us as we came down the stairs into the main room.

"So Drake what did the prophecy say?" Chiron asked me.

"Well it said something about finding a creature of water and air." I said.

"No Drake what _Exactly_ did it say, prophecy's almost always have double meanings." So I started over with the prophecy.

"It said 'A creature of water and air you must find in a land of good weather. Knowledge sought of a stolen treasure. Destruction of a sacred place, a map hidden within a case. On a land shrouded in mist, you must find. Or treasure be lost for all time.'"

Chiron looked thoughtful for a few minutes then said. "Well that is certainly obscure enough for our prophecies, but it does give you a few clues for where to begin. I would guess that the 'Land of good weather' refers to Buenos Aries, since the name literally translates to 'good weather'. I am not certain about the creature of water and air, there are a lot of different possible creatures that it could be. I believe you will have to go to Buenos Aries to figure out the rest of your prophecy. Now Drake you can choose two companions for this mission."

"Umm, well I think I'd like to have Nico and Asoka go with me, if they'll come." I said a little nervous about this whole thing.

Chiron nodded in approval. "Excellent choices, I will have them brought to the house so that they can choose." Chiron had a Satyr go get both of them and when they arrived at the house Chiron and I explained the quest and the prophecy to them both.

Nico was nodding and smiling before Chiron finished explaining the quest and Asoka was doing the same by the time he finished explaining everything. "YES." They both said when Chiron asked if they wanted to accompany me.

"Well that's settled, now we must get you three down to Buenos Aries. Do any of you have active passports?" Chiron asked.

"Well I do." Asoka said. "I use it to come here from Japan every summer."

I looked at Chiron. "I don't have one with me but my mom has it in our house in Chicago."

Nico looked a little disappointed. "I don't have a passport, I've never left the country."

"That's alright Nico we can come up with something suitable for you. The real thing is always better but I'm certain we can improvise. Now the three of you get ready, we will have Nico's passport finished by the time you return." Chiron said as he turned and wheeled himself out of the Big House. I looked at Nico and Asoka and we all shared a smile as we headed back towards our respective cabins to begin getting ready for our first quest together.

I headed back to cabin nine and told my brothers about my quest. They were all really excited for me, and gave me some really good advice; like not to use a cell phone, since it sends up flares for monsters saying 'I'm here come and eat me'. I changed into a pair of jeans shorts, a black mc chris t-shirt, and a pair of tennis shoes. I packed up my few clothes and my IPod into my Camp duffel bag, and then headed back toward the Big House. Nico and Asoka caught with me before I left the courtyard for the cabins. They were both geared up for travel.

Nico was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt with flaming skulls on it, his silver skull ring, and black combat boots. He had his Stygian Iron sword strapped to his side was carrying his own Camp duffel bag. Tabitha had on a pair of stone washed Capri jeans, a bright yellow tank top, and tennis shoes. She had her two magical key chains hooked into the belt loops of her pants and she had some strange bumps and straps across her back.

"Hey guys, thanks for coming with me. I really appreciate it."

Nico smiled at me. "You don't get it cause your new to camp, but any kid here would jump at the chance for a real quest. We train constantly for this right here, it's in the real world that we find out just how good we are. I helped out a lot when the Titan Invasion came last year, but I've never actually been on a real quest before.

"Yeah Drake, neither have I. I've been coming to camp since I was nine years old and I haven't gotten to go on a quest yet. I really appreciate picking me to go with you." Asoka smiled happily at me while she said it.

I was really relieved to hear them both so excited about this quest. We headed back to the Big House together where Chiron was waiting for us along with this blonde Surfer looking guy whose whole body looked like it was covered in eyes. I looked at Nico and Asoka, and Asoka explained. "Oh that's Argus. He's the head of camp security, he'll be the one who drives us into New York so that we can get started." Chiron trotted over to us and handed Nico a large Manila Envelope.

"Here you are Mr. Di Angelo one perfectly legitimate appearing passport, courtesy of Lord Hermes." Nico stared at the passport Chiron had given him then put it into his back pocket. "Now here is my suggestion to the three of you, Argus will take you to LaGuardia airport where I suggest you take a flight to Chicago and pick up Drake's passport, then you take another flight down to Buenos Aries. After you get to Buenos Aries contact me and hopefully I will have figured out some more information about the prophecy to help you." With that Chiron handed each of us a few zip-loc Baggies with cash in them, along with three canteens of Nectar, three more zip-loc Baggies with ambrosia squares in them, and a big pouch filled with golden Drachmas.

_End Chapter Four_


	5. WE DEMOLISH AN AIRPORT

_**CHAPTER FIVE: WE DEMOLISH AN AIRPORT**_

It sounded like a good plan to me, and with that Nico, Asoka, and I walked with Argus out of camp past the guardian dragon Peleus, I petted him as we all walked by and he happily blew some smoke rings towards me. We all piled into one of the camp vans and Argus took us from camp and into New York to LaGuardia airport. I looked over at Nico and as we were driving and asked, "hey how are we supposed to get our weapons past all the security at the airport? I mean wont they set off the metal detectors or the X-ray machines or something?"

"Well your gauntlets and Asoka's bow should pass just fine since they are magically disguised. I'll manipulate the Mist to make the security people not notice the rest of the weapons and armor and we should be just fine. Mortals never really want to notice anything unnatural anyway."

"That's awesome, I didn't know we could do anything like that." After that we discussed a few things about the quest and the prophecy, none of us had any real idea about what the creature of sea and air could be, there were too many different creatures that it could be. It took a few hours to get to New York and once we go to the airport it took about another hour before we were all on a plane headed to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Whatever Nico had done to manipulate the Mist worked like a charm because no one even paid any attention to him as he set off the metal detectors by walking though them with his sword still strapped to his side.

Once we got to Chicago I took the lead and we all piled into a cab and headed to the apartment I shared with my mom. I knocked on the door and my mom answered and then her eyes got wide and she grabbed me in a very tight hug. "Oh Drake honey, how are you? What happened I thought you were safe at camp?"

"Mom ribs, ribs, can't breathe." My mom let go of me and looked a little bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry honey, it's just so good to see you. So what are you doing away from camp?" Just then she noticed Nico and Asoka still standing in the doorway. "Oh I'm so sorry please come in all of you." My mom looked embarrassed that she hadn't noticed my companions.

"Mom these are some of my friends from camp, this is Nico Di Angelo, and this is Asoka Hirame. The reason were away from camp is because I've been given a quest and they are helping me with it." My mom had brought us all into the apartment, she made us some sandwiches and Lemonade. "Thanks mom, that was great. Where did you put my passport? I need it for my quest."

"Why do you need your passport?" Mom asked looking a bit worried.

"Well I need it because according to my quest the first place we need to go is Buenos Aries and I need my passport to get there." I explained. My mom looked thoughtful for a few moments, then she got up and went into a drawer on the far side of the kitchen and brought me back my passport.

"I cant say that I'm excited about you leaving the country without adult supervision, but I knew what it would be like when you discovered what you really were. So just try to be safe, and that goes for all three of you." My mom said looking around the table at everyone. We all assured her that we would be careful on the trip. That night we all crashed at my apartment, I slept in my bed, while Nico took the couch and Tabitha shared a bed with my mom.

The next morning my mom took us all to the airport before she went to work. We all said our goodbyes to her and headed inside. Once we got inside we headed toward the international flights counter, but as soon as we headed that direction Nico stopped and started looking around looking worried. "Nico what's wrong?" I asked.

"I can sense monsters around here." Asoka and I immediately became alert and started looking around.

"Well I guess we shouldn't be too surprised by this, considering were three powerful half-bloods running around in one of the biggest airports in the country." Tabitha said as she continued to look around warily, her hands kept going over the small of her back like she was reaching for something but deciding not to.

"I think we should leave, like right now. Forget the plane ride for now, maybe we can come back later to catch another flight." I suggested. Both Asoka and Nico nodded and we started to head back toward the front entrance of the airport. Before we got there though I noticed three big guys wearing biker leathers, and a woman who looked familiar to me, even though I couldn't place her. They all stood right in front of the main exit of the terminal like they were looking for something.

Suddenly the woman looked straight at me and said. "Ah found you again at lassst. Kill them all." Her voice had a weird sort of hissing to it, and she started to change in front of me, her face got green and scaly and I recognized her. She was the same snake woman who attacked me at the arcade before I got to camp.

I yelled at my friends. "Look out she's a monster", and activated my gauntlets. Nico opened his duffel bag and pulled out his own sword while Tabitha's hands went to the small of her back and then she suddenly two Japanese style short swords appeared in her hands. We all charged together at the snake woman but her biker friends got in our way before we made it more than a few feet. They weren't bikers anymore, they were eight feet tall each holding large bronze clubs that had holes in them, and the holes had fire coming out of them.

"Laistrygonian Giants." Nico yelled as he dodged the first swing of the flaming club his opponent was carrying, he swung his sword and stabbed the giant in the back. It immediately stiffened and Nico's Stygian Iron sword drained the life essence out of it and it crumpled into dust.

Asoka's giant swung his club at her but she already had both her swords lined up so that the blow glanced off and hit the ground harmlessly, she then did a quick double criss-cross slash with her swords and removed both of the giants legs at the knee. He looked stunned and had turned to a pile of dust before he even hit the ground.

My own Giant did a vicious two handed swing with his club at me, like he was trying to drive me into the ground like a railroad spike, and I followed my first instinct. I grabbed the club as it came down toward my head, now this should have crushed me flat, but I stopped it and the giant had a very confused look on his face. I felt a surge of energy run through me and I crushed the club in my hands. Then I gave the giant a strong right jab right in the pit of his stomach, and when he lowered his head I nailed him with a strong left hand upper cut and he flew straight up to the ceiling and he fell as a shower of dust all over the airport.

The snake woman had a shocked look on her face since we had just decimated her reinforcements. Her shock turned to rage very quickly and she said. "You will not leave thissss ccccity alive half-bloodsss." Then she threw something at her feet and there was a huge puff of smoke and she was gone.

The whole area we were in was suddenly in a panic; the three of us looked at each other and hid our weapons as quickly as possible. Right before we left Nico turned back towards the people in the airport, snapped his fingers and said. "You never saw us." The snapping sound of his fingers was extremely loud and I could hear it even over the screaming people.

I gave Nico a confused look and asked. "What did you do?"

Nico grinned and answered. "I manipulated the Mist, now all those people that saw what happened wont remember seeing the three of us fighting the monsters, they might remember three kids fighting other people but they wont be able to describe us. We need to leave now, that woman we saw was a Scythian Dracaenae, a dragon woman, and a powerful one at that to be able to command Laistrygonian's." Nico suited his words about leaving and we headed away from the airport quickly on foot. Once we got a few hundred yards away from the entrance we got on a public bus and headed toward downtown Chicago.

"So what are we going to do now, the airport seems pretty much out of the question, and I don't want to go back to my moms place in case that Dracaenae finds some more friends for us to play with." Nico and Asoka both nodded to this, it was obvious that they were both thinking hard about how to get to Buenos Aries if we couldn't fly down.

After a while I noticed where the bus was at in the city and decided to speak up. "Ok while were trying to figure out how were going to get to South America without flying, how about we get some food, I know a great place around here." The mention of food definitely got both Nico and Asoka's attention and they both agreed. We got out at the next intersection and headed over toward a Chicago food staple, a hot dog stand. We all ordered several dogs each with fries and cokes.

After we finished eating we got up and headed back toward the bus stop, still trying to figure out what our next move should be when we suddenly heard an extremely loud motorcycle engine coming down the street. We all turned and saw a huge chopper heading straight toward us with a glaring red headlight, and a gas tank painted with flames. Sitting on the bike was a big guy wearing a red muscle shirt, a black leather duster and red wrap-around shades, and a big hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He got off of his bike and started to walk right up to us with an evil looking sneer on his face.

"Well, well so you're the cripples newest kid. Can't say I'm impressed." He said as he laughed. I started to get really mad. I wanted to give this guy a serious punch in the mouth.

"Who do you think you are?" I asked, ready to activate my gauntlets and teach this guy a lesson.

Nico and Asoka both grabbed me by the arms and Nico whispered in my ear. "Don't Drake, that's Ares, the god of war. His powers are affecting you, making you angry, don't let him." As I looked back at Nico I started to stop feeling so angry and I realized that he was right, Ares' powers were making me angry, I started calming myself down and looked back over at Ares.

"What do you want from us Lord Ares?" I asked him once I'd gotten myself back under control. He looked over us with a very smug smile on his face.

"Me? I'm here to be a very benevolent god and help you out with your little problem. I'm going to help you get down to Buenos Aries." Ares said with a laugh.

Asoka stepped up in front of me and said. "What do you want in return Lord Ares? I know the gods never do anything for free. Especially not you."

Ares gave us an evil looking smile and said. "Well there is one little thing you can help me with. See there's a dragon id like you to slay for me. He lives in a cave north of Chicago, if you slay him and bring me back his horns as proof then I'll help you get to South America." With that, Ares got back on his bike and took off. Asoka and Nico exchanged a worried glance before looking back at me.

I looked back and forth between them and asked. "Can't we just ignore him? I don't know what he's up to but I don't like him." Asoka and I both looked at Nico, since he'd had more contact with the gods than either of us.

Nico shook his head. "No we can't, as much as id like to, when one of the gods sets you a task you cant just ignore it, they get very upset and then all kinds of bad things happen. We have to do what Ares wants."

I looked back and forth between my two companions and shook my head. "I don't like this, I don't trust Ares."

Nico nodded at me. "You shouldn't, he's not very trustworthy. Percy told me that he tried to get him killed by my dad on his first quest. Ares certainly doesn't have any love for children of Hephaestus. This is probably a trap, but we don't really have a choice. So anyone have any idea where this dragon's cave is supposed to be?"

Asoka and I both shook our heads, Asoka looked down at the ground and suddenly pointed at something, I looked at where she was pointing and saw a piece of paper. I picked it up and looked at it. "Oh you have got to be kidding me." I gave the sky a disgusted look. "Really Ares, really? This is the best you can do?" Nico and Asoka both looked at me like I was going crazy. I shook my head and gave the sky another disgusted look. "Ares drew us a map, it shows Chicago on it and it tells us how to get to this dragon's cave. Here we go up the highway to this mile marker and go off the left side of the road, the cave looks like its about three miles off the main road. I can't believe Ares would give us something this cliché."

Asoka was looking the map over very carefully; she looked at me and said. "Well Drake, we'd better get going if we want to do this task for Ares. The map really is cheesy, but it's also really accurate. We can probably get to this cave by this afternoon if we leave now." I nodded to her and hailed a cab to take us north to the correct mile marker and had him let us out. He gave us a funny look for wanting to get out on the side of the highway but Asoka gave him a big tip and he decided not to ask any questions.

_End Chapter Five_


	6. I FIGHT A DRAGON AND MAKE A NEW FRIEND

_**CHAPTER SIX: I FIGHT A DRAGON AND MAKE A NEW FRIEND**_

We headed off the road in the direction that the map told us to, once we got close Nico drew his sword and Asoka and I activated our weapons, my gauntlets and her bow. We were almost up to the mouth of the cave when I started hearing a very loud steady noise. It reminded me of the sound a jet engine makes. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was the dragons breathing. I gave Nico and Asoka a worried look that they both returned, but we all still crept up to the entrance of the cave. I took a deep breath and nodded to both of them and stepped into the mouth of the cave.

I got my first look at the dragon that Ares wanted us to slay, and it was breath taking. It's scales were an incredible shade of silver. They almost looked like they were liquid, like mercury. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, considering how loud the breathing sounded, but it looked extremely fierce. It had two large horns curling back on its head, and a backward curving row of spines in between the horns that seemed to go along the back of its neck. Its large wings looked like twin lakes of mercury spread out on either side of its long body. All I could do was stare; it was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. I looked back at my companions and shook my head. I couldn't kill this creature; it was to majestic to destroy.

I didn't care if Ares tried to make my life miserable for ignoring him but there was no way I would kill this dragon. I turned and started to walk away from the dragon when I suddenly tripped over a large rock and yelled in surprise as I fell into the side of the cave. I raised my hands to stop myself, my gauntlets made a loud crack when they connected with the side of the cave wall. The dragon woke up as soon as I yelled and when I crashed into the wall it looked right at me and let out a growl that sounded like a building collapsing. It was so loud that I even felt it through the bottom of my feet. I turned back to the dragon very slowly and raised my hands to show I didn't mean any harm.

The dragon started toward me when Asoka suddenly yelled. "Get away from him." The dragon turned toward Asoka and roared at her, I took a chance and tried to dart out of the cave. I made it to the mouth of the cave before the dragon turned back to me. It suddenly breathed out a huge column of bright blue flame that completely engulfed me. Nico and Asoka both yelled something, but I couldn't understand it with the sounds of the flames around me. The flames around me stopped, and I screamed and dropped to put out the flames when I suddenly realized that I wasn't on fire. I looked down at my arms and my clothes and saw that they weren't scorched and that I wasn't in pain. I jumped back up and ran out of the cave as the dragon flung itself out of the cave and into the air.

I watched it fly high into the air and take a sharp turn and dive straight toward us. It breathed another huge jet of blue fire at us. We all dove out of the way just as the flames hit where we had been standing. Asoka aimed her bow and put five arrows into the air just as the dragon started to turn back toward us. All of her arrows connected with the dragon but all but one shattered on the dragons hard scales. The one that didn't went through the membrane of the right wing. The dragon roared in pain and fired another jet of blue flame at Asoka. I ran and pushed her out of the way but didn't get clear in time, and the flames enveloped me again. Once they stopped I looked at myself, and again I wasn't burned. I looked all around me and the ground and trees around me were burnt and scorched, flames were real, but for some reason I was immune to them.

The dragon dove straight toward me and landed on the ground in front of me and tried to bite me. I reached up and grabbed it by its top and bottom jaw and felt an incredible surge of energy and pulled it to the side. The dragon had a shocked look on its face when it tumbled over and landed on its back with me on top of it. I forced the dragon's jaws shut, and it started to struggle, and almost threw me off. It suddenly stopped struggling as much. I looked around and saw a dozen undead warriors piled on top of the dragons limbs holding it down. Nico and Asoka both came up to the front of the dragon with weapons drawn.

"No. I don't want to kill this dragon." I said as I turned back toward the dragon. It was looking at me with intelligent eyes. I looked back into its ice blue eyes and said. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I don't want to kill you. If you can understand me blink once for yes and twice for no." The dragon's eyes widened slightly, but then it blinked once slowly. I smiled and said. "Good I swear on the river Styx that I wont kill you. Now if I let you go are you going to attack us?" The dragon blinked twice at me, and I nodded. "Nico, make your warriors let go of the dragon, I don't think it's going to attack us."

Nico looked dubious but he nodded and waived his had and the Zombie warriors got off of the dragon and disappeared back into the ground. I let go of the dragon's mouth and jumped off of its chest.

The dragon turned over quickly and growled deep in its chest. "Why are you here if you haven't come to kill me?" I was somewhat surprised to hear the dragon speak.

I looked at my friends and walked a little forward and answered it. "Well we were actually sent to kill you by Ares." The dragon's eyes narrowed and I hurried along with my explanation. "But after seeing you I didn't want to kill you. I don't care if Ares tries to make my life miserable or not, I refuse to kill you."

The dragon looked at the three of us and snorted. "You are a very strange group of half-bloods." The dragon shook its big head and looked straight at me and asked. "I have never encountered any creature that could withstand my flames, even Cyclops's and other monsters that are normally immune to fire have been burned by my flames. Who is your divine parent boy?"

I swallowed before answering. "I'm a son of Hephaestus. I don't know what that has to do with me not being burned by your flames."

"Hephaestus eh? I haven't encountered any of his children. Of course I am not an old dragon, I am not even one century old. So perhaps it is your fathers nature that protected you." The dragon mused.

I looked down at my feet, suddenly self-conscious. "Well dad is the god of fire. I don't know if that has anything to do with it."

The dragon laughed at my comment. "Well maybe that is it, you are very entertaining. So now what are we going to do? You say that you don't want to kill me, but you have been tasked by one of the gods to do so."

Nico suddenly snapped his fingers and said. "I bet that's why he did it." We all gave Nico confused looks. "Ares, he didn't want you to kill this dragon, he wanted you to get killed by the dragon Drake. That was his plan all along."

I wasn't convinced. "Why would Ares want to get me killed? I've never done anything to him. I mean I guess I embarrassed Clarisse during the capture the flag match, but is that enough to get him to try and get me killed?"

Asoka looked like she was in deep thought. She suddenly looked at me and said. "Not by itself, no, but I heard a rumor from Percy a while back. Drake your dad played a prank on Ares a while ago. I don't know all of the details but according to Percy, but apparently it embarrassed Ares so much that he didn't show his face on Mount Olympus for a really long time. I bet this was a way for him to try and get back at your dad. Ares knew you were on a quest for him. What better way for him to get back at Hephaestus than to get one of his sons killed on a quest for him."

I looked from Nico to Asoka with shock. The more I thought about it the angrier I got. "Oh I am so going to kick the crap out of Ares." I clenched my fists so hard that my knuckles cracked. I started to stalk off back to Chicago to find Ares and put my foot up his divine butt when Nico and Asoka both grabbed me.

"Whoa Drake, you cant just go take on Ares by yourself." Nico said as he was holding on to my arm trying to stop me. Unfortunately for both Nico and Asoka I was strong enough that I was dragging both of them along with me, until the dragon grabbed me with his claw.

"No young half-blood, you must listen to your friends. Ares may not be very intelligent, but he is cunning, and he knows how to fight. If you go after him with nothing but anger, he will control you in the fight. If you truly intend to battle Ares you must have a cool head." The dragon said as he held me back. I struggled for a few moments but then stopped when I realized that my friends were right.

I took a deep breath and said. "Okay, you guys are probably right. I can't take Ares if I'm too worked up to think straight, but I'm still going to kick Ares' divine butt all over Olympus."

"So what are we going to do now?" Nico asked as he let go of my arm.

Asoka also let go of me and answered him. "Well we can't go back to Chicago now, not with that Scythian Dracaenae looking for us, not to mention the fact that Ares will be mad that we didn't kill his dragon."

The dragon suddenly growled and asked. "What Scythian Dracaenae?"

"Umm the one that's been chasing me since before I knew I was a half-blood." I said.

Nico and Asoka both gave me shocked looks and Asoka asked. "What do you mean its been chasing you since before you knew you were a half-blood? You mean that same one attacked you before you came to camp?"

I looked down at the ground, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah right before I came to camp, she attacked me at the Arcade in the Chicago Mall. I'd actually forgotten about it until now. After I got to camp I just thought that it was a random monster attack."

Nico shook his head. "No I don't think so, this Dracaenae was different from the normal ones I've fought. She was way more powerful. You guys remember how she had those Laistrygonian's working for her, and then she vanished after we finished them off. Most other Scythian Dracaenae do not have that kind of power."

The dragon growled again. "I think I know this particular Dracaenae that you speak of, she is one of the Elders of their council. If she is the one I think, then she has a great deal of power. If you are going to fight her, I will happily help you. I despise Dracaenae; they give all dragon-kin a bad name. Now you said that you were on a quest, what sort of quest is it?"

I shrugged uncomfortably and explained. "Well I had a dream about my dad, he was really mad about something of his being stolen, then he told me to get it back for him. I got a quest from Chiron and the prophecy said that we have to find a creature of sea and air in the land of good weather. Chiron said that the "land of good weather" has to be Buenos Aries. So we were going to fly down to South America. But when we got to the airport that Scythian Dracaenae attacked us and we had to run, and then Ares came to us and said he'd help us get to South America if we came and killed you and brought him your horns. You know the rest."

The dragon looked thoughtful about my story and nodded his head. "Yes I understand. I have decided that I will help you with your quest as thanks for not killing me. I have a way to get you all down to South America. You can ride on my back for the trip. It will be taxing upon me, but it might be worth it. If I get a chance to kill that Dracaenae."

I gave the dragon a grateful look and said. "Thank you, umm what is you name? We can't just call you dragon."

The dragon looked at me. "Well my name is Kovinulondous."

I looked back at the dragon and said. "Well that name is great, but it's kind of hard to pronounce. Your scales look almost like Mercury, so can I call you Quicksilver?"

The dragon looked thoughtful and finally nodded. "Yes I believe I like that name. It is very fitting to me. You all may call me Quicksilver."

Asoka still looked troubled about something. "What about Ares? He wont be very happy with us if we don't kill this dragon for him. He's not known for being a very forgiving god."

Suddenly we heard a loud voice say. "You are very correct. I am definitely not a forgiving god." In a flash of light, Ares was standing about fifty feet from us holding a large sword in his hands. "Now I seem to recall that I gave you three an assignment, you three slay this dragon and I get you down to South America, of course this one." He pointed at me. "Wasn't really supposed to survive."

_End Chapter Six_


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